RIP Cliff Mahjors

04 Sep

Sad news to report, The Sandy Bandit has passed away. Cliff Mahjors was an icon in the industry, famous for his horde of British motorcycles and parts and equally famous for his tirades on gold and silver and monetary policy. I was once cornered in his shop and “educated” about the value of paper money. Cliff came to fame by buying the excess inventory at the Duarte distribution center for BSA/Triumph/Rickman and their accessory arm Top Gear. My friend Rob Fisher worked at the Duarte facility located on Huntington Drive. Below Huntington was the lower income section of town. Clyde Earl the parts manager had rented a number of these houses to store excess stock sent over by the factory to hide it from the bankers who were using it as collateral for the ever increasing debt the factories were inuring. Rob had the job of off loading the parts into the houses and later loading the trailers Cliff was using to move the parts to Washington state. Many of the parts were defective or for models never produced, Triumph/BSA Bandit/Fury. We discovered the issues when we bought a fair amount from Satisfied cycle who had acquired 2 of the truckloads misplaced by Cliff, and later from Mike Riley who bought the rest. Cliff was made rich by the British Cycle industry but he never enjoyed his fortune, living like a pauper in poverty. I will miss him, there will never be another like him. RIP Cliff.